BLWers -- how is it going?

bluesapph · November 2011

We started at about 5.5 months. He didn't take off right away and I was starting to wonder if it would work but he also refused everything on a spoon so I carried on with BLW. The last two weeks or so he is eating just about everything he can get his hands on. I feel like it is one of the best decisions I ever made. He eats a wide variety and even eats spicy food with gusto and it is all homemade and healthy. I hope his adventurous spirit with food continues through the toddler years!

I'd love to hear how everyone else doing?

Any great tips to share?

tokenhoser · November 2011

I love it. It's so low stress. He's still not eating a ton, but the diapers prove he is eating. The most fun we've had is giving him avocado still in the shell - make sure to strip down to the diaper and get ready to hose down the high chair, but he has such a blast.

His other favorites include brocolli, beef tortellini, carrots, banana, and applesauce frozen cubes in the mesh feeder. I admit, I haven't given him much spice yet, but I have some great guacamole in the fridge he should try.

sparkymcgeee · November 2011

I'm doing both BLW and purees. Which seems off but because of the season I don't feel like she gets enough fruit and veggies just with the BLW. Anyway, she is doing great with the finger foods. She tries everything and is getting so good with her tiny little fingers. She went diving for my friends dinner roll the other night and it was the funniest thing. She loves so many foods that I never would have thought a baby her age would enjoy. I hope she has a great love of diverse foods in her life because of this.

Interestingly enough though she doesn't like bananas. At all. I've tried pieces and purees and she's just not a fan. But give her some mango and she's fine. Lol.

LiluBee · November 2011

Can someone fill me in on BLW? It didn't seem to be a thing with my first and so I've been doing purees again. It seems like people doing BLW give foods that the wholesomebabyfood site says not to give until they are older. I need direction!

tokenhoser · November 2011

LiluBee:
Can someone fill me in on BLW? It didn't seem to be a thing with my first and so I've been doing purees again. It seems like people doing BLW give foods that the wholesomebabyfood site says not to give until they are older. I need direction!

https://www.babyledweaning.com/

I'm following the book. The list of foods not to give before 1 is very short - pretty much, whole nuts, grapes, cherry tomatoes (choking) and honey (botulism).

Perhaps it is a bit "trendy", but it's a trend I like, so I'm going with it. The original research was done in the 20's, and babies have been grabbing and eating food since the dawn of time, so it's new but not really new.

AnneShirleyBlythe · November 2011

LOVE it! She eats, or at least trys, everything. We did lentils today and she liked them plenty! Oatmeal, all fruits, BROCCOLI, tons of other veg, she can't get enough!

MarJo03 · November 2011

DD will try everything we put in front of her! I love it! Thanksgiving was so much fun being able to give her everything on my plate. Yams, turkey, green beans, etc she loves it! We're still not doing breakfast foods, but she gets lunch and dinners with us. She'll share whatever we're eating, so easy! We just went on a HUGE road trip, and I loved not worrying about packing food for her, she just had veggies to gnaw on in the car and ate some of whatever we had while we were out.

She's just started to swallow small pieces, her poos are showing signs of that for sure. Dh is starting to gag when he changes her poopy diapers. I just laugh at him.

jazzyag · November 2011

K loves almost anything that she can get in her mouth. She's not a fan of cold things, so I try to warm stuff a bit if it's come out of the fridge. (this is mostly my home canned pears and peaches)

This week I've been giving her mini bow tie pasta with chunky purees as a sauce and it's been working out well.

Banana sticks are her fave, if there's a banana anywhere in sight she won't eat anything else.

nycdueinmay · November 2011

We just started last Thursday on Thanksgiving and I'm not sure we're doing it right. Or, I don't know if she gets it yet. She had turkey as her first food (I cut it into strips and was calling it "turkey fingers") and we did that for 3 days, she liked putting it in her mouth and then just sucked on it hands-free.

Next we tried some sweet potato cut into the same fry shape and she just sucked on them. She did gag once of twice (I didn't worry or anything) but she isn't really making any effort to "eat" anything or bite down or consume. We did sweet potatoes for 3 days and will do it again tomorrow, or I have a pear in the fridge for her.

Are we on the right path, did your LOs just suck the foods at first? How long until she starts eating? I really want to avoid purees...

nycdueinmay · November 2011

AnneShirleyBlythe:
LOVE it! She eats, or at least trys, everything. We did lentils today and she liked them plenty! Oatmeal, all fruits, BROCCOLI, tons of other veg, she can't get enough!

I just want to say I'm really excited that it is working for you! I know you said your DD is a "choker" and you were worried you shouldn't BLW, so I just wanted to say YAY! Smile

tokenhoser · November 2011

nycdueinmay:
Are we on the right path, did your LOs just suck the foods at first? How long until she starts eating? I really want to avoid purees...

It took about 2 weeks before he really started eating anything, and he still sucks on some stuff. Make sure it's a bit on the overcooked side so it falls apart fairly easily in the mouth. You can also offer more than one thing at once, although you can follow "the rules" and space things if you're concerned about allergies.

The book says that puree babies learn to swallow, and the later they learn to chew and move food around their mouth. BLW babies do it the other way - they learn to move food and chew first (and spit most of it out), then learn to swallow and eat that food after a few days or weeks.

nycdueinmay · November 2011

tokenhoser:
nycdueinmay:
Are we on the right path, did your LOs just suck the foods at first? How long until she starts eating? I really want to avoid purees...
It took about 2 weeks before he really started eating anything, and he still sucks on some stuff. Make sure it's a bit on the overcooked side so it falls apart fairly easily in the mouth. You can also offer more than one thing at once, although you can follow "the rules" and space things if you're concerned about allergies.
The book says that puree babies learn to swallow, and the later they learn to chew and move food around their mouth. BLW babies do it the other way - they learn to move food and chew first (and spit most of it out), then learn to swallow and eat that food after a few days or weeks.

The turkey was soft as well as the potatoes, but I was worried about it being too piece-y. Or that in her sucking she would clamp her mouth down and the food would be soft enough to break a large chunk in her mouth. I know and understand that she will most likely just gag and spit it out if that happens, but it is scary at first. Same as she was suck-suck-sucking and I wanted eating time to be over, but I was scared to pull the piece out of her mouth as again, I didn't want a giant piece to break off. I know most of this is me and not her.

With the pear tomorrow, do you [all] think I should cut it in to spears again, or do the technique where I take a bite out of it and then give her the whole fruit to nom? That seems less stressful for me, I'm a BLW newb.

tokenhoser · November 2011

LO ends up with big chunks of food in his mouth pretty much every day.

Do whatever makes you more comfortable, but you will get used to it.

bluesapph · November 2011

I agree, do whatever makes you comfortable. Why not try both and see what works? Cut the pear in half and take a big bite out and give her the rest. Slice the other half into thin slices. Other good things to try that break up really easily: boiled/steamed carrot or kiwi. LO loves kiwi!

SC1977 · November 2011

So far it's been going great! We spoon feed him certain foods (like oatmeal) and now he just grabs the spoon and sucks the food off of it.

If you're giving LO lentils (or other "smaller" foods), is your baby picking it up with his hands?

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